First Pothole on the ISM Road

(Note to self: Go to another computer to test features, when you have your usual computer set to automatically log in to sites.)

Checking my school email at 10:30 p.m. last night yielded feedback from the first teacher trying to work through the ISM:

I am having trouble on the module. There are several places that ask me to give my "Reflections" on a page but where I am supposed to click "Edit the Page" it is saying "Protected." This module is really hard to understand most of the time. I am getting really frustrated. I feel like I am wasting my time.

Oh No, that certainly isn't what I intended! But it is invaluable information, and showed me some major bugs...

• the instructions about joining wikispaces.com and the TTR wikispace at the beginning of the Getting Started section must not be clear enough, or s/he would have been able to edit the page
• I've deleted those instructions, and changed the wiki settings (see below)
  
• requiring membership in wikispaces is a pain - I'm not constantly at my computer (no matter what my colleagues think!), so can't be certain of getting the membership requests moderated in a timely fashion.
• I've changed the settings to Public, so membership isn't required to edit pages
• The My Maps feature in Google Maps is really cool, but it turns out that "sharing" doesn't mean people can add to the map, it just means they can view a map set to Private
• I've deleted the Exploration recommendation that the user "add to the map"

True to life and Murphy's Law, Wikispaces.com was down when I tried to work on it last night. After tossing and turning and failing to find sleep, at 2:30 a.m. I was finally able to get into the site and make the changes. I've emailed updates to the teacher, in hopes s/he will be willing to give it another shot and provide me with more feedback. Does the phrase "Not Ready For Prime Time" ring a bell?

Now I'm worrying about the usefulness of the physical handout. I created it by copy/pasting directly from the wiki, but that means the handout is out of date almost as soon as it is made available. Let's hope I find a solution before bedtime; I'm not worth much on 2 hours of sleep!

New test

Test

Goodness Gracious! What won't they think of next?

Trying to think my way through the section on Social Networking (specifically the entry for blogging), I wandered around the Help sections at blogger.com, where this blog is posted. Lo and behold I can now blog from my cell phone! The picture is not the best in the world - I guess I didn't really expect it to work - but I'm not going to redo it. Instead, I'm going to revel in the silliness of my first experiment with moblogging. What an incredible tool this could be in the classroom!

Teachers as ARE Learners

I'll admit it...I'm a teacher. And a learner. I can't stop myself. Something catches my attention, and I have to explore, investigate, tear it apart. It's a wonder my parents survived my youth! As an adult, no matter what job I've been paid for, I've always ended up teaching. And learning. Now, as a middle school Tech teacher, I'm moving to a different level: offering to teach my fellow teachers. Guess what...I'm learning as well.

My current exercise is trying to create a meaningful learning opportunity focused on using the Internet. Does my target audience already use the 'Net? Certainly, if only for school email and entering grades and attendance. What do I have to offer them? What I see as the incredible universe titled Web 2.0. The problem is this: I'm a geek (freely admitted) and the people I'm writing for probably aren't comfortable wearing this label.

How do I open the virtual windows without scaring them to death? Some of them probably have My*pace accounts, most of them have never heard of Ning, and a few (who have suffered through other sessions I've offered) have del.icio.us accounts. Can you hear the reactions I'm imagining?

Blogs? Something that is blocked from school, and who has time for that anyway. Podcasts? Something that requires an iPod that can't be afforded on a teacher's salary. DSN? We're a rural community that doesn't have access to high-speed Internet. Wiki? What tha?.

But it's worth the effort! I want to share all the neat stuff that is out there. I want other people to get excited by David Warlick, Miguel Guhlin, Wes Fryer. I want to meet people at Tapped In who I know in the "meat world." Why can't we use the opportunities afforded by Wikispaces to help our students grow and learn while we do the same?

And of course I'm off on a tangent as soon as I start creating the links in this post. Wouldn't you know it, when I went to Miguel's blog to pick up the correct URL, his March 20 entry hit me full in the face. Before I could come back here and create the link, I had to go to Randy Rodger's edublog Teaching Better with Web 2.0 and find this

...a teacher first needs to view their blogging, reading of other blogs, bookmarking, etc. as an essential part of the classroom preparation time. Think of the time already spent gathering materials, perusing teacher’s guides, creating handouts/worksheets, etc. If but a small portion of this time is redirected towards learning/doing something new, a teacher can quickly develop a proficiency level and begin to identify ways to effectively utilize the tools of web 2.o in their instruction. One planning period a week is a great place to start!

Well. Hmm. Okay. Let's let this entry be the beginning of my journey preparing the new Internet exercise. Fellow learners, start your engines!